Kia Oval to host the International Wine challenge

Home to Surrey County Cricket Club, The Kia Oval has announced that it is to be the official venue for the 32nd annual International Wine Challenge (IWC), the world’s finest and most meticulously judged wine competition.

Kia Oval will host both tranches of the 2015 IWC competition, the first of which takes place from 17th to 21st November, with another round of tasting from 13th to 24th April 2015.

Hundreds of the world's best wine judges will visit the Kia Oval throughout the two rounds of the competition to blind taste each wine for its faithfulness to style, region and vintage. Throughout the rigorous judging processes, each medal-winning wine is tasted on three separate occasions by at least 10 different judges and awards include medals (Trophy, Gold, Silver, Bronze) and Commended and Great Value awards. There will be two medal release dates with Tranche 1 results announced in December and Tranche 2 in May.

This is the second year the IWC has split its competition into two separate tastings to accommodate the different production and sales schedules across the industry. The IWC hosted tranche two of its 2014 competition earlier this year at the Kia Oval, and the venue is delighted to be hosting the entire 2015 competition.

Chris Ashton, IWC Event Director commented: “We’re thrilled to have found a venue which matches the IWC’s commitment to quality, attention to detail and professionalism. Our tasting in April earlier this year at the Kia Oval went very smoothly, so we’re thrilled to be returning and hosting the whole 2015 competition from there. The judges like it, the team are great, and the venue looks stunning.”

Maria Scullion, Head of Sales at the Kia Oval commented: “We are honored to be the chosen venue for this year’s prestigious IWC judging series. The event is the finest competition in the wine industry calendar and our facilities here at the Kia Oval offer the ideal spaces for this meticulously organized, and large scale judging process. We are looking forward to welcoming the hundreds of judges and industry experts involved, and being part of these two events.”

The Kia Oval has an excellent range of event facilities, including a conference centre and knockout roof terrace. Accommodating up to 510 seated guests for banqueting, the venue also offers plenty of smaller meeting rooms holding between 10 and 350. All suites are flooded with natural daylight, fabulous pitch views, climate control, blackout facilities and state of the art equipment, to ensure a successful and unique event.